New Jersey... What Now?

Every New Jersey Democrat I know-- even the best of 'em-- are warning about the need to rally around Cory Booker now that he's in a face-off against a big bad right-wing lunatic. Early this morning, on her way to the airport, Barbara Buono told me that "When the polls closed I went to Cory Booker’s election night party. I know that Blue America members may not have supported Cory in the primary. But now that the primary is behind us, it's absolutely critical that Democrats in New Jersey and the rest of our great nation unite behind our Democratic ticket this fall. The reasoning behind that is crystal clear-- Christie tried to silence the people of New Jersey when he called the special election less than 1 month before his own, and we can’t let him win.

  "He is trying to put so many elections together in such a close period of time, so that our  supporters don't show up, and therefore he wins, along with his nominee for US Senate. With the US Senate in the balance, we need to send Cory to Washington, and with Christie's eyes set on the White House in 2016, we've got to do our part to make sure that we don't have to stop him in 4 years."

She talked about a unified ticket. OK, I bet most, if not all, Democrats in New Jersey agree. It's also the theme Booker was harping on when he made his victory speech last night. Referring to Rush Holt, Frank Pallone and Sheila Oliver, he said, "They are our champions, too. We are no longer opponents, we are allies. We are together." Like Buono, Holt said he called Booker to congratulate him and "to tell him I intend to help in October," referring to him as "a unique voice in Democratic politics." I suspect you won't be hearing much about the New Jersey Senate race from Blue America again. We're as likely to get behind Booker as we are to get behind Paris Hilton, a Kardashian, a judge from Chopped or one of Bravo's Prinesses: Long Island characters. (Actually, I'd back Alex Guarnaschelli before I'd back Cory Booker.) But that doesn't mean we're abandoning New Jersey progressives-- not by a longshot. Fortunately, they still have a great opportunity to elect one of the most visionary and progressive governors in the country, Barbara Buono. And we intend to help.

In today's New Republic Noam Scheiber makes the case that Booker is even worse than his critics have been claiming. Morons in the media have noticed he's an African-American and are assuming he'll be "a disruptor... Someone who wants to shake things up.” A vehicle for bringing “street-level experience to a Senate that often seems disembodied from the whole planet."

You might be inclined to conclude from this that Booker intends to be the Senate’s liberal conscience-- someone who can channel the progressive id from a perch inside Washington, in the same way that Cruz and Paul function as voices of the Tea Party from deep within the capital. Booker is, after all, an inner-city Democrat from a solidly blue state, whose predecessor was a reliably liberal vote. Who better than him to swing for the fences? But, if you happened to conclude this, you’d be way off the mark. What Booker has in mind when he alludes to being an agitator is agitating for the cause of himself.

I can demonstrate this with almost mathematical precision. After all, as Alex Pareene of Salon has pointed out, Booker shares a worldview with the financial elites who fund his campaigns. If one can deduce from his record and his public statements, he believes the economy functions best when wealthy people are allowed to deploy their capital freely, and that progress ensues when they train some of their gains on society's ills-- “the charity of the benevolent elite,” as Pareene labels it. This is why Booker was so affronted by the Obama campaign’s denunciations of the private equity industry back in 2012. And it’s why he apparently sees no conflict in holding public office while making millions from a tech start-up funded by the Silicon-Valley elect. (Booker briefly took a shot at translating this worldview into policy during the campaign-- hinting that he’d be open to raising the Social Security retirement age for young people--before backtracking furiously when progressives called him on it.)

This is all fine, of course-- subscribing to these beliefs is hardly a crime even if it’s not my cup of tea. But here’s what’s so curious: If there’s one worldview that doesn’t need high-profile agitators to advance its reach, it’s the worldview of the moneyed classes. This is the worldview that already dominates Washington. It funds politicians and think tanks. It clutters the op-ed pages. It pours forth from the characters who fill your television on Sunday morning. (Come to think of it, maybe both kinds of characters who fill your television Sunday mornings...) As a result, it’s hard to believe that what drives Booker is the need to spread the good word.

Now, in fairness, most people bent on playing the role of agitator are motivated by personal ambition, not just ideological commitment. The Ted Cruzes and Rand Pauls of the world want to be president in addition to advancing their right-wing principles. But they clearly do want to advance their principles. By contrast, the principles Booker espouses have been so thoroughly advanced that no sane person could consider them under-represented.

That leaves only the ambition part of the equation. It turns out the only one who needs Cory Booker out there, relentlessly making the case, is Cory Booker.

The rest of us, especially those in New Jersey, need to get behind Barbara Buono and dump Christie. That's a priority! Barbara was born in Newark to parents who immigrated to this country from a small town right outside of Naples. Her dad was a union butcher and her mom worked two jobs to make ends meet. "We lost dad," she told me "when I was 19, but I never forgot how hard he and mom worked to provide for our family. I had to put myself through college while working three jobs to make ends meet. My husband Martin and I are parents to six amazing children, all of whom are grown now. But we raised them with the same can-do attitude that my mom and dad raised me with." Nive but here's why Blue America endorsed her and why we feel good asking you to back her as well. She wrote this on her plane this morning:

The simple way to say this is that I am a progressive. I know that anyone, if given the chance to get an affordable education and a good job, will go as far as their talents take them. That is why I was proud to choose Milly Silva-- someone who has spent her career fighting for working families as vice-president of SEIU 1199-- to be my running mate. Our ticket is a truly historic ticket:  the first all-female ticket in New Jersey history.

We believe that everyone should be able to marry the one they love. That is why in 2008 I was so proud to stand up and co-sponsor marriage equality legislation right here in New Jersey. This is a view I have had long before it was politically popular.  Our governor, on the other hand, has done everything in his power to stand in the way of giving everyone the ability to marry the one they love. As the mother of a gay American, it's simply disgusting that my daughter can't marry whomever she loves in New Jersey.

We believe in giving everyone a chance to do great things. Under Christie those among us who already have enough are getting richer, while those who are struggling to make ends meet are having a harder and harder time getting by. Milly and I will make sure that everyone gets a fair chance. We will do away with the fiscal policies that are costing New Jersey jobs and making it harder for our families to make ends meet.

Since I was elected in 1994 I have never run away from a fight. I believe that New Jersey's best days are ahead of us, but we can't get to the better days if Chris Christie is governor. He is a coward who is only focused on positioning himself to run for President. He has lost New Jersey thousands of jobs because he is just doing the bidding of his special interest allies like the Koch brothers. Not to mention fundraising with casino moguls like Sheldon Adelson.

When I started this campaign, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. But that has never deterred me before. When I first ran for the State Legislature, everyone said I couldn't win-- I was a women going up against the party bosses. But I was able to win because I worked harder than my opponent. I am running because the state I love is suffering, and we have to stand up and fight for what we know is right. We are in a David and Goliath battle, and that is why we need you to help us fight for our progressive values, and why we need to defeat Chris Christie now so we don't have to in 2016.

Please join us in doing that right here.